Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Episode 17: Explaining The Trial

The next day the Sultan sent for his Vizier and Scheherazade. The reason for his summons was to explain the trial he had in mind.

“As you know I ‘ve given thought to the importance of producing a male heir. It is my belief that by defining the problem and closely examining all the facts and assumptions a solution will present itself.”

“How have you defined the problem, facts and assumptions?” asked Scheherazade.

“Well, the King answered, “the problem is to determine how to conceive a son. Most everything else are assumptions, supported by what we know.”

“And what are these assumptions?” she asked with interest.

“The first is that a woman will conceive on the fifteenth day after the onset of her taint.”

“Does this mean that if a husband and wife copulate only on that particular day of the month that a child will be conceived?”

“Yes, that is the first big assumption. Second that during sexual intercourse a spirit is summoned from the netherworld. This can be a male sprit or a female spirit but it enters the woman through an orifice and thereby determines the sex of the infant.”

“Please Continue.”

“Third that the male spirit will gravitate to a womb, inseminated in a bright place while a female spirit will be more inclined to enter where the intercourse happened in a dark place.”

“Is this all?”

“This is the seminal thinking upon which the trial is based.”

“So how do you envision the details of this trial taking place?”

“I see two rooms, one lighted and one dark. On a raised platform at the end of each room is a chair. In the center is a bed. On the bed in each room will recline woman who share the same moon cycle. “

“Fatima and I share the same cycle.”

“How do you know that?”

Scheherazade rolled her eyes. “It is common knowledge that the woman of a harem, living in close proximity, come to share the same moon. Since Fatima and I are always together we find this to be the case.”

“Then I propose that the two of you be the subjects in the trial. Summon Fatima and El Bourke… I want them to hear all that I have in mind.” So the two were summoned and brought up to date on what was being proposed.

“El Bourke and Fatima will be the subjects in the dark room,” said the King, “and Scheherazade and I will take the light room. We’ll all wear blindfolds and have our mouths sealed.”

“Blindfolds and gags?” Scheherazade exclaimed in dismay.

“It is common,” said the King, “to conduct a trial thus. That’s why it’s called a Blind Trial. We don’t want what one pair is sensing, to compromise the results of the overall test.”

“Compromise the Results?”

“Yes… If the spirits can know from afar what we are seeing or hear the words we speak they might be moved to act contrary to their natural inclinations.”

“So you want the female spirit to enter the dark room and the male spirit to enter the bright room,” clarified El Bourke, showing his clear grasp of the situation.

“Yes,” replied the king, “and I don’t want them to know which of us is where until they arrive on the scene.”

“So how will this work?” asked Fatima.

“After the gags and blindfolds are in place, a gong will sound. I'll lead El Bourke to your bed in the dark room and then I’ll proceed over to Scheherazade. All of us will copulate as we normally do. After twenty minutes the gong will sound again. I’ll arise and go lead El Bourke back to his seat and resume mine. When the gong rings a final time we’ll remove the gags and the blindfolds and the trial will be completed.”

“So what is this supposed to prove?” asked Scheherazade.

“First that if you both conceive, we are right that the cycle of the heavenly moon and the cycle of a woman’s moon are related and that a woman’s moon is full of the fifteenth day.”

“It will definitely prove that,” said the King’s wife .

Second if you conceive a male and Fatima a female we will know that a spirit has a gender and they are attracted to the light and darkness.

The Queen jumped up and down excitedly. “How I do hope it turns out you're right.”

“Finally we will know that the spirit enters the woman from the ears or nose, since the eyes and mouth will be sealed.”

“When do you propose to do the trial?”

“When is your taint expected to begin?”

“It started this morning.”

“And you Fatima?”

“The same.”

“Then we will conduct the trial fifteen days hence and in the meantime, now pay attention everyone, Scheherazade and Fatima will be locked up in the Harem and neither myself or El Bourke will have intercourse with our wives until the day of the trial.”

Everyone agreed that they understood the plan and the royal carpenters were called in to construct the two rooms.